


The Sands that Bind Us

by EMMegs



Series: Magical Hourglass Soulmate AU [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Minor Allura/Matt Holt/Shiro, Mutual Pining, Near Death Experiences, Platonic Soulmates, Queerplatonic Relationships, Romantic Soulmates, Supportive Hunk (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 12:02:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15485337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EMMegs/pseuds/EMMegs
Summary: Lance has spent his whole life waiting to meet the soulmate he thinks will be romantic: his Red. Keith has spent the last 5 years trying not to think about how his skin is painted with his soulmates' times of death. Hunk just wants these idiots to sort out their gay feelings and kiss already.--She holds the glowing hourglasses in the crooks of their left elbows together and runs a thumb over both of them. “It means we’re one of the people that will always be there. We’ll stick together through thick and thin. We’ve got each other’s backs.”“And the other ones?” Lance asks, holding out his right hand for her to inspect the red hourglass on his palm and golden one on the back of his hand.“They’re destiny’s markers but in the end it’s up to you and the people that they’re tied to to figure out what it means.”





	The Sands that Bind Us

**Author's Note:**

> Couple warnings. There's some pretty graphic violence in two scenes (scene 2 in section vi and scene 1 in section ix which also depicts a stabbing) and two scenes of near-death (one is past and not as graphic in scene 2 section ii and the other is more immediate and from character POVs who are present in section ix). I'll put a summary in the endnotes of these scenes just in case anyone needs to skip. 
> 
> I'm really excited to present this since I've been working on it for roughly two weeks and have been unable to work on anything else since I started outlining it. I hope y'all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
> 
> Oh there's a playlist for this fix (as it is with me). You can find it here: https://open.spotify.com/user/emmegs/playlist/1YasItjT0aQIv8k5cqA0Bf?si=0noo6uO8Sza-KjnuU0ad4Q

_ i. The Castle of Lions _

“Coran, Coran the Gorgeous Man!” Lance yells as he strides into the shop to the ginger sitting behind the counter. 

The man in question grins and turns to face him. “Lance! Cup of your usual I assume?” 

“I’m actually feeling the dirty chai today, Coranic.” 

“Will Pidge and Hunk be joining you?” 

“I think so. They’re supposed to be here anyway. We have a huge biology project coming up.” Lance glances down at the back of his right hand just in time for the golden hourglass on his skin to begin glowing. “Looks like Hunk is close at least.” 

“Brilliant. I’ll brew up their regulars as well.” 

“You’re a blessing, Coran,” Hunk says as he bustles through the door haphazardly carrying one too many potted plants. Lance glides over and plucks one from him in the interest of making sure all of them don’t fall to the ground and shatter. (Because Lord knows Hunk’s stressed enough without destroying part of their project.) 

“I try,” Coran answers with a wink from where he stands at the espresso machine. Lance settles down at the corner table with the most plants surrounding it and takes out his laptop. Hunk follows him over and lines up their plants on the far end of the table. 

“Have you talked to Pidge?” Lance asks Hunk. 

He shrugs in reply. “They know we’re here and they know how long we’ll be here.” 

Lance opens up a Word document and scowls at it. Coran brings over a couple steaming cups and Lance inhales the chai spices before taking a sip that makes his toes curl in happiness. 

He’s still staring at the blank document between happy sips five minutes later when Pidge walks into the shop. They look unamused when they gaze at the array of plants on the end of the table and sigh. 

“I hate nature,” Pidge mutters under their breath, automatically taking a swig of the Americano Coran had graciously made for them. They make a face and call, “Coran? Can I just straight up get an energy potion?” 

“You know I can’t sell that to a minor, Number Five!” 

“Dammit,” Pidge breathes. “Hunk can’t you use your voodoo powers and make the plants grow faster? We’re on a deadline here.” 

“Uhhh one: it’s not voodoo and you know it. Two: that would be cheating and I’m very much against being kicked out of school for it.” 

“No one would know,” Pidge deadpans. 

“It’s. Cheating,” Hunk insists. 

Pidge stares him dead in the eye as they take a long drink of their coffee, complete with eye narrow at the end. It’s totally silent, neither of them bending. 

Lance pipes up, “Is it  _ really  _ cheating or is it just using the tools at your disposal to your advantage?” He’s only half paying attention but a slow grin spreads across Pidge’s face. 

“Yeah, Hunk.  _ Isn’t it _ ?” 

Hunk frowns further. “ _ No _ .” 

“Hunk--” 

“Pidge, by Lance’s logic you could use your hacking  _ voodoo _ as a tool to our advantage and just go change all our grades.” 

“You’re right! I’ll just--” 

“ _ Pidge, NO! _ ” Hunk and Lance both say, then high-five their synchronicity 

“Have you all eaten?” Coran asks as he approaches their table with water. 

“You’re too good to us!” Lance says and immediately flops onto the table, arms spread toward Coran. 

“Oh, by the way, Coran. Did you get to talk to Keith yet?” 

Lance quirks an eyebrow at Pidge. “Soulmate Keith? My one true enemy Keith?” 

“They’re the same person, Lance,” Pidge deadpans, “And he’s not your enemy.” 

“Anyone trying to usurp my reign as top of class  _ is  _ my enemy.” 

“He isn’t--Oh my god. You’re ridiculous.” 

“I have indeed talked to him, Pidge!” Coran says, entirely ignoring Lance’s interruption. “He’ll start next week as part of a work study.” 

“Wait what?! I’ll have to look at him?! Here?!” Lance exclaims. 

Pidge rolls their eyes. “ _ Stooooop. _ He’s my best friend so you have to be nice and get along with him.” 

“Did you  _ see  _ his scores on the last test?” 

“He’s in a different time period!” 

“IT’S THE SAME CLASS. HE’S TRYING TO TAKE CONTROL.” 

“You’re a paranoid idiot.” 

“Guys,” Hunk sighs. “Can you stop bickering for five seconds?” 

Lance is the first one to snap out of it. Because Hunk has his hand hovering over one of the plants. He moves his fingers in gentle stroking motions and Lance watches, transfixed, as new leaves slowly begin to grow until a flower bud appears and opens. 

“Hah! I knew lilac would be dominant!” Pidge cheers while Lance grumbles. 

“What happened to not cheating?” Coran asks with a sly look at Hunk

“It’s not  _ really  _ cheating,” Hunk mutters, “It’s just speeding up the growth process that would already take place so that we don’t fail before they flower.” 

“So you were just being difficult,” Pidge states. 

“Give me a break! You’re like… Super genius teen over there! It’s intimidating! Plus what you were threatening had  _ legal connotations _ , Pidge! I want to graduate, not go to jail!” 

Pidge has nothing to say, the smug little shit. So they just sip their coffee and smirk. 

\--

“Shiro, you do realize that I don’t need you to get me a job, right?” Keith asks one of his brothers from where he’s studying for a history test. He picks up the sticky note Shiro had just smacked on top of his head with the number for a cafe of some kind near the university. 

“I know,” Shiro says. 

“Are you even  _ looking _ ?” Akira yells from the kitchen. Keith groans. Why did he think it would be a good idea to move in with his twin older brothers? 

Shiro ignores Akira’s outburst. “Look, this place is a magic/coffee shop hybrid run by Allura’s adoptive dad.” 

“So you used your girlfriend… To get me a job,” Keith deadpans.

“You need money, Keith!” Shiro says, scowling. 

“Money is a capitalist conspiracy,” Keith replies automatically, as though it’s rehearsed. Shiro sighs and from the kitchen they can hear Akira laughing hysterically as he does dishes. 

“Though that may be,” Shiro says through gritted teeth, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have some spending money so you don’t have to live off ramen and cheap cereal?” 

“It would be. But is buying into the capitalist regime worth it?” Keith counters, raising his eyebrows. 

“You’d get to see Pidge more often. They’re a regular there.” 

“ _ Really _ ?” Keith says, slightly intrigued against his better judgment to run away. This has got to be a trick by Shiro. 

“Are you really trying to use social interaction to entice our little bro, Takashi?” Akira asks, coming to lean against the doorway between the kitchen and living room. He wipes his hands off with a dishtowel, flashing the bright blue hourglass on his forearm. Akira tsks and tosses the dishtowel back toward the kitchen sink. “Bad form.” 

Shiro shoots a glare in his twin’s direction and sighs. “Keith, please. Will you at least  _ talk  _ to Coran? Pidge really wanted you to look into this too.” 

Goddamn Shiro. Using his soulmate against him. 

“I need to find a better way to use Matt and Allura against you,” Keith mutters, which is about as good of an affirmative that Shiro is gonna get. 

He then flips open his phone and texts Pidge:  _ ‘Next time you give my brothers any information, warn a guy.’  _

 

_ ii. On soulmates _

Lance was 8 when he first asked his cousin, Val, what exactly their matching hourglass tattoos meant. Val was practicing her astral projection at the time so instead of answering like any normal human being, she stayed seated calmly with her eyes closed… and projected behind him. 

“It meaaaaaaaans,” projection-Val says, laughing as her little cousin jumps and twirls around. 

“ _ Val! Don’t do that! _ ” he shouts as she laughs and laughs. 

Her laughter calms gradually. She holds the glowing hourglasses in the crooks of their left elbows together and runs a thumb over both of them. “It means we’re destined to be together.” 

Lance makes a face. “Gross.” 

“Not like  _ that _ , numbskull!” She sighs and frowns down at their marks. “It means we’re one of the people that will always be there. We’ll stick together through thick and thin. We’ve got each other’s backs.” 

“And the other ones?” Lance asks, holding out his right hand for her to inspect the red hourglass on his palm and golden one on the back of his hand. 

“They’re destiny’s markers but in the end it’s up to you and the people that they’re tied to to figure out what it means.” She pauses, running a finger over the red one. “But I have a feeling the red one will be extra special. You’re gonna love them.” 

“Really?” Lance asks, stars in his eyes. 

“Yeah,” Val murmurs, ruffling his hair. “Yeah you will.” 

\--

Keith has always found it rather morbid that the hourglasses are basically a ticking time marker counting down to his loved ones’ deaths. 

He found it twice as morbid literally watching the black sand in the hourglass on his forearm drop close to empty. 

Keith was in freshman biology at 14 when the person next to him nudged him and gestured toward his arm. Keith frowned at his classmate but looked down at his arm anyway. His heart jumped immediately to his throat as his brain processed what he was seeing. 

Shiro’s hourglass, faded from black to gray, nearly empty, cracks beginning to form along the edges. Keith felt his lungs stop drawing in air as he sat there, hands curled so tight around his pencil that it snaps. With the snap, he jumped up, grabbed his bag, and booked it out of class. If his teacher yelled after him, it’s all a blur. 

_ “Go back to class, honey,”  _ his mom said when he called her.  _ “Your brothers are fine _ .” 

_ “ _ Mom. I can  _ see  _ Takashi’s hourglass. He’s… not fine. Where is he?” 

_ “It’s really no use worrying about it, Keith. He’ll either be fine or he won’t. There’s nothing you can do about it.”  _

“Mom,” Keith said, breathing erratic as he started to hyperventilate, “why is his hourglass starting to fade? Why is it cracking?  _ What happened to Takashi _ ?” 

His adoptive mother sighed and murmured,  _ “You’re… not going to go back to class, are you, Keith?”  _ He shook his head, entirely forgetting that she couldn’t see that. But she knew the answer anyway.  _ “Head on outside. I’ll come pick you up and sign you out.”  _

“Okay.” He tried to even out his breathing, eyes fixated on the hourglass on his arm. “Can you tell me what happened?” 

“ _ Akira and Takashi were in a car accident, Keith. They were coming down from the university to surprise us. Your father got the call half an hour ago and he’s with them both now.”  _

Keith’s breath caught in his throat again as he reached the front doors to the school. “They wanted to surprise us?” 

His mother hums.  _ “I don’t know much more, but we can meet up with your father at the hospital.”  _

He nodded and paced in front of the school until his mother arrived. 

Akira was banged up and had a fractured leg. He was fine. But Shiro… Shiro had to have his right arm amputated. His right arm where all his soulmarks besides Akira’s was. Keith saw first the black hourglass on his bicep fill up and regain color, then his brother’s right arm, severing the Red soulmark connecting him to Keith directly in half. 

He doesn’t find it morbid anymore, looking at his blue palm and golden hand marks. 

No. Now he just finds it cruel. 

 

_ iii. Near unions  _

“I’m telling you, Hunk, we’ve got this entire course in the bag. You don’t need to stress over it.” Lance claps a hand on his best friend’s shoulder as he slides his tray of food onto the table across from Hunk. 

Hunk tries and fails to smile at him, pulling his mouth into a strained grimace. “Tell that to Professor Montgomery, who’s currently trying to  _ murder  _ me via homework.” 

“It’s basic  _ biology _ , Hunk. We covered most of this stuff in high school.” 

“Then why is she assigning  _ so much work _ . I have three other classes to study for I can’t always be working on biology homework and labs.” 

Lance sighs and reaches for his chocolate milk. 

Then stops. 

The hourglass on his palm is glowing. 

“ _ HUNK _ !” Lance squawks, “Hunk! Look!” He shoves his hand under Hunk’s nose. Hunk’s eyes grow wide. 

“Isn’t that one the one you and Val were sure was going to be romantic?” 

“ _ YES! _ ” Lance says, voice at least a full octave higher than normal. “Oh god. How do I look?”

“Charming as always.” 

“Aww buddy,” Lance says, but there’s no real feeling in it as his eyes scan the surrounding cafeteria for a glowing blue hourglass. Surely, someone will jump up the second they notice it. Surely, he can’t be the only one searching. 

But the people surrounding them merely give him strange looks and continue eating. A couple minutes pass and Lance slowly takes a seat. 

“They’re  _ here _ , Hunk,” Lance says quietly. “They’re here. Why aren’t they looking for me too?” 

“I dunno, buddy,” Hunk says, reaching out a hand and slapping him on the shoulder. “But you’ll find them eventually. This means that they at least go to the same school right? They’re on campus. You just have to find them.” Hunk goes back to studying but Lance has lost his appetite and his focus. He spends the rest of his lunch break watching his palm until the glow in it fades away. 

\-- 

When Keith was 17, Shiro tried to get him to see someone. Akira did too, but at least Akira knew better than to push something that wasn’t going to happen. 

“Keith you haven’t taken off those gloves for three years,” Shiro said. He was in the front seat of the car driving to god only knew where. Keith had learned to stop asking by this point. Nothing could stop Shiro when he was on a mission, especially when he thought it would help one of his brothers. “I just want to help you.” 

“There’s nothing that needs helping, Shiro,” Keith mumbled, “I just don’t want to look at death clocks. What’s wrong about that?” 

“You’re not even going to know when you meet them!” 

“Maybe I don’t care?” 

“Or maybe you do and you’re just scared about what kind of connection you’re supposed to have with these people? I know you and you hate uncertainty.” 

Keith groaned as Shiro pulled up in front of a shop. “Ugh seriously, Shiro? An aura reader? You know most of those are hoaxes right?” 

“Not this one. Rosa is well known to actually deliver accurate readings. It’s run in her family for generations.” 

“Oooooor she’s just claiming that.” 

“Believe what you want, Keith, but we’re going in there.” 

“If I have to do this, so do you.” 

“I already know all the people my hourglasses are connected to. Nice try.” 

“Yes but do you know whether they’re romantic or platonic?” 

Shiro just raised one unimpressed eyebrow at him and Keith threw up his hands. “FINE!” He threw off his seatbelt and stepped out of the car, hands curled at his sides. 

“Welcome to Rosa’s Aura Readings,” said the young adult behind the front desk. “How can I help you today?” 

“We’d like a soulmark reading for my brother here,” Shiro said, planting both hands on Keith’s shoulders so there was absolutely no way for him to escape. 

“Cool. My aunt should be ready for another reading in about 10 minutes and it will cost $20.” Keith rolled his eyes as Shiro handed her a $20 bill. “Great. I’m Valeria if you need anything while you wait.” 

“Thanks,” Shiro said and steered Keith to sit in one of the chairs lining the wall. 

“This is a load of bull. They can’t actually read the kind of soulbond,” Keith hissed. “Just like you can’t See actual futures, just possibilities.” 

Shiro snorted and muttered out the side of his mouth, “Yeah and you know what I  _ Saw  _ last night? You with less anxiety. So it is apparently a possibility for you to shut up and trust me.” 

Keith sighed and crossed his arms in front of him, scowl permanently in place on his lips. They were quiet for a while and then Keith spoke up, still in a hiss, “I bet they’ll read my soulbond with Pidge as romantic and  _ then  _ I’ll be able to actually call them out on their bullshit.” 

Shiro rolled his eyes and watched Valeria wander over to them. “My aunt is ready to see you now,” she said with a smile. Shiro stood and started to follow her, looking back at where Keith was still sitting and nudging his head to the side. Keith let out another sigh and dragged his feet to follow as well. 

Valeria led them to a room that was a little dimmer than the lobby. A coffee table sat in the middle surrounded by five chairs. In one of them sat a woman who must have been Rosa. She smiled and gestured to the seats. Feeling like he was in some scene out of a teen horror movie involving a ouiji board, Keith sat and examined the woman. Her smile widened as Keith watched her. 

“You have doubts,” she said. “This is fine. In the end no one can really tell you what your bonds mean.” She reached across the coffee table and gestured for his right hand. How she knew that was the hand where his unknown soulmarks are was a complete coincidence, he’s sure. He hesitantly placed his hand in hers, feeling a slight chill run down his spine as he did so. “May I?” she asked, pointing toward the edge of his glove. Keith swallowed, mouth dry, and nodded. 

Rosa peeled back his glove and with a couple yanks it came off, revealing the blue mark on his palm and the golden one on the back of his hand. “Interesting,” she murmured. “They are placed as reflections of each other.” She ran her fingers gently across his skin, her eyes stuck on the colors and amount of sand. “Yes. You’ll likely meet them at the same time. You’ll fall in love with only one of them though.” 

Keith just barely bit back a scoff but didn’t get any noise out before she continued, “Only if you allow yourself to, that is. Blue could easily be the love of your life and Gold one of your greatest companions. However, you’ll need to let them into your life for that to happen.” 

Keith stared at her then looked at Shiro, who was looking entirely too smug. His expression hardened. “That doesn’t change the fact that their deaths are painted on my skin,” he muttered, snatching his hand back and cradling it to his chest as though her touch had burned him. 

“Their deaths will be meaningful as they will be tied to you.” 

“And what if I don’t want to know?” Keith snapped. “What if I never wanted to know when anyone close to me was running out of time? What’s the point of being tied to someone if they’re going to  _ leave _ ?” 

He stopped, realizing he’d stood at some point and glared at Shiro’s stunned face. “Keith--” 

He was out of the shop before Shiro could think of his next words. As he speed walked down the street, Blue started to glow. Keith glared at it, curled his hand into a fist, obscuring it from view, and resolved not to look back. 

 

_ iv. On first meetings _

Lance was almost 12 when he met Hunk for the first time. He had stayed behind at school to help his science teacher with some presentations for the next week. He waved goodbye to Miss Juarez and started walking to the bus stop, humming to himself along the way. 

Lance has always hated bullies and unfortunately his middle school was rampant with them. It was filled with kids who would find anything and everything wrong with anyone be it their size, hair, or even their soulmarks. 

This particular day, he came across a group of 8th graders badgering a boy about his age. Lance scowled. The kid was obviously just trying to get home after a long day at school. He had grease of some kind on his fingers and smudged on his face. Lance’s hands curled into fists at his side and he strode forward, intent to at least attempt to put a stop to this madness. 

The kid in the middle put his hands up. “Hey guys, I’m not here for a fight.” 

“Oh yeah, tubby? What are you here for then?” 

“Look at his weird soulmark! It’s got two colors!” 

“What kind of weirdo gets a dual-colored soulmark?” 

The boy seemed to shrink a little under all their words. Lance couldn’t take it. He slid right through the middle of the group and put an arm around the boy’s shoulders. “Hey, buddy! I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” 

The 8th graders looked between each other, smirking as though this was part of some game. “You two are a couple of queers then, huh?” one of them said, nodding toward their hands. 

Lance and the boy both looked down at their glowing hands at the same time, then at each other. “Holy shit,” Lance breathed, staring into the face of his soulmate. He then recovered himself and said, “So what if we are? It’s none of your business anyway. Fuck off.” 

He then resolutely pulled his soulmate by the shoulders through the crowd of boys and out the doors. Once to the bus stop, Lance looked over at his soulmate and grinned. “Name’s Lance,” he said, sticking out a hand. 

“Hunk,” the boy said, giving him a small smile. “Thank you for that.” 

“Bullies are the worst. Those guys were jerks. Seems like something good came from it though, right?” He held out the hand with the glowing golden hourglass on it and Hunk held his own up for Lance to inspect. “Huh. You do have two colors in it. That’s weird. Normally I’m just a solid blue.” 

Hunk shrugged. “I don’t know what it means any more than you, dude. I’ve had it my whole life and no one seems to have a clue as to why it’s two colors instead of one.” 

“Maybe it’s a third person?” Lance asked. “It’s red like my other one.” He flipped his hand over to show Hunk the mark that Lance had fondly been calling Red ever since he and Val had read it as a romantic bond. “Maybe you’ll be tied to them too!” 

Hunk hummed and stuck his hand back in his pocket. “Maybe. We’ll see. Maybe you’re just double the colors and you never knew it.” 

“Awww! You already know how to get to my heart!” Lance cooed, slinging an arm around Hunk’s shoulders again. “Hey do you want to go get some ice cream? There’s a Baskin Robbins near my mom’s shop. We could stop by and then she can give you a ride home.” 

“Sounds great,” Hunk said, smiling. 

\-- 

The Shiroganes were the sixth family Keith was placed with that year and it wasn’t even July yet. His face was screwed up in a permanent scowl, arms crossed over his chest. Every part of his posture screamed “Leave me alone!” 

His social worker kept telling him that this was why he hadn’t gotten a more permanent placement yet. “No one wanted to handle a grumpy 8-year-old,” she said. “Would it kill you to just smile?” she said. 

Keith very nearly kicked her in the shin last time he spoke to her. 

Suffice to say he was not looking forward to being carted off to  _ another  _ family and  _ another  _ rejection. So why bother opening up at all? 

He was pushed into the entryway of the house to be examined by the two teenagers and his new foster parents. He refused to look or speak to any of them. “Keith, this is your new foster family. Be nice to them,” his social worker stated to him, as though he was a baby that didn’t understand what was going on. He glared at her. 

“Hey! Your soulmark is glowing!” one of the teens exclaimed, pointing at his arm. Keith looked down at it. He’d never put much stock in his soulmarks. His dad had died with a broken heart and a perfectly full soulmark from his mom, so why bother if they were just going to leave? 

Keith watched the whole family check their arms for a glowing soulmark, eyes drawn in particular to the other teen. He stared at the glowing black hourglass on Keith’s arm until his brother started to hit him into rolling his sleeve up. There, in red, was an hourglass glowing with the same intensity as the ones on both brothers necks. Keith blinked at it then at the teen. 

The guy stuck a hand out. “I’m Takashi. Your foster brother. Looks like you’re probably gonna be sticking around, huh?” 

“Hell yeah! Little brother!” the other teen yelled, fist pumping into the air. 

Keith just looked between them, trying not to let the hope in his chest rise any higher. 

Three months later his adoption went through and Keith Kogane becomes brothers with Akira and Takashi Shirogane. 

They’re inevitably the best thing that’s ever happened to him. 

 

_ v. On magic _

Like most witches, Lance’s powers first manifested when he was 10-years-old. However, unlike most witches, he found out his powers were not quite as easy to control due to their wordless, gestureless, even thoughtless nature and that fact was draining. 

When he subconsciously healed his older sister’s broken toe just by touching it, and then fainted, he had to promise his parents he would do his best not to heal more than a cut. 

It is a promise that he has broken on two occasions and both of them ended with Lance hospitalized on fluids and oxygen. 

He can’t help but to help when he sees someone hurt. It’s in his nature. It’s why he decides he wants to study medicine - so he has more than just his finicky healing magic at his disposal. 

Hunk’s working on fixing the espresso machine for Coran when he lets out a yelp and Lance is immediately by his side, abandoning his laptop on the table. Coran also emerges from the back at the noise but quickly backs away at the sight of blood gushing from the cut on Hunk’s palm, his face pale. 

Lance waves him away and quickly wraps Hunk’s hand with a rag to soak up the blood. He sees Hunk wince and frowns, pulling the rag away and enveloping Hunk’s hand in both of his. All it takes is a mere touch and the wound sews back up, leaving Lance dizzy and vaguely nauseous. 

Coran leads him to a chair where he sits and takes deep breaths. “You know I have healing magic too,” Coran says quietly, “and it doesn’t put me in quite this state.” 

“You have all the magics, Coran,” Hunk pipes up from behind the counter where he’s cleaning the piece of equipment that cut him. He wanders over once he’s done and has replaced it. He gives Lance his hand when the boy makes grabby hands toward him, with a roll of his eyes. “You should be more careful.” 

“Can’t let my best buddy bleed out in front of me, can I?” Lance counters, examining where the cut was and pressing a gentle kiss to the palm of Hunk’s hand. “There. All better.” 

“Thank you,  _ doctor _ Lance,” Hunk says. 

Lance shoots fingerguns at him and grins despite the way the room spins slightly. “Someday I’ll  _ actually  _ be a doctor.” 

“You kinda gotta graduate college first,” Hunk says, patting him on the shoulder. 

“And I will!” 

“With your current work ethic?” 

“Hey!” 

Coran laughs along with Hunk while Lance glares at them. Really, Lance wouldn’t have this any other way. 

\-- 

Keith walks into The Castle of Lions for his first day as the new barista, fully expecting to deal with bitchy customers and finicky potion ingredients. He’s not expecting when Coran gives him a grand tour to find a storage room stocked full of even some of the rarest ingredients. 

“Holy shit,” he breathes, as he takes in the variety of colors on the labels and in the vials spread along the shelves. “You have  _ everything _ . What kind of demon deal did you pull?” 

Coran chuckles. “My late partners were rather well versed in quality potion ingredients and had the money to buy only the best. They were the ones that funded the opening of this shop.” 

“Did you know you can boost the functionality of the energy potion by mixing it with grapefruit juice instead of orange?” Keith asks, holding a vial of said potion in his hand. 

“Really? That’s intriguing. I will have to investigate that.” 

Keith grins at him and for the first time since agreeing to work here, thinks that it may actually not be that bad. 

And then Lance walks in that afternoon. 

Keith knows Lance purely by reputation and at this point he was hoping to avoid him completely. Unfortunately, they’re on similar tracks in school and that would only last for so long. Keith sighs as Lance yells a greeting to Coran and stops in his tracks as he sees Keith. 

Oh well. Might as well get this over with. 

“Welcome to the Castle of Lions! What can I get for you?” 

Lance narrows his eyes at him and looks around the crowded shop. “Raspberry white mocha,” he says slowly. Keith nods and gets to work. “If you have anything that will help me sleep later that would be great too.” Lance raises an eyebrow, glancing down at his hand before curling it into a fist. 

“Got it,” Keith mumbles, moving to the back to gather the ingredients for said potion. He crushes some purple leaves and a root while the espresso shots brew, all while Lance watches him with laser focus. 

“How long have you studied this?” Lance asks as he smoothly transitions between the mocha and potion. 

Keith shrugs. “I didn’t really. Picked some stuff up from my dad and one of my older brothers but otherwise I’m entirely self-taught.” He keeps his eyes on what his hands are doing instead of looking at Lance. He rubs his thumb along his pointer finger as the mocha is finished. “The potion will take a while since I need to brew a new batch for maximum effect. Will you still be around in an hour?” He hands Lance the mocha in a paper cup but his eyes are automatically drawn to the glowing red and gold hourglasses on either side of his hand. 

“Yeah. I’ll be over in the corner with my soulmate, Hunk. We’re in beginning bio.” 

“Oh same,” Keith mutters, resisting the urge to let his eyes trail back to the soulmarks on Lance’s hand, soulmarks identical to his own. He shakes himself internally. Not the time, Keith. “Montgomery can really pile on the work huh?” 

Lance purses his lips and Keith wonders briefly if he’s somehow offended him. “Yeah. Hey, you’re Pidge’s soulmate, yeah?” 

Keith nearly startles at the sudden question but nods in the end. “Mmm.” 

“Are you the red or the darker red?” Keith parts his lips to answer, his throat suddenly dry, but Lance shakes his head before he can. “Nevermind. It’s dumb. Don’t mind me.” 

He turns away and Keith just barely manages to catch him glance down at his palm again on the way. 

Keith’s heart pounds. It’s a coincidence. It’s gotta be. Lance has a red soulmark and he’s already figured out who it is. He’s gonna sit with two people not just one. But as he watches Lance walk through the shop around people crowded around other tables he just sits at a table occupied by a big guy. He stands there and watches, waiting for someone to join them. When no one does, he heads toward the cauldron in the corner of the work area and sets to work on the sleeping potion, ignoring the subtle itch under his skin. 

His eyes trail back over to Lance’s table when he finishes setting up the cauldron. Still no one new. Keith sighs. It’s nothing. A fluke. He shouldn’t worry about it. 

And yet. 

He heads into the back room and slowly, hesitantly, peels back his right glove until he can see the glowing edges of his blue and golden hourglasses. 

He swears softly and pulls his glove back over them. 

 

_ vi. Evil in the world _

After the number of false positives his red soulmark has given him, Lance is about ready to go in to an expert to get the damn thing checked out. It seems that every time he goes to the Castle of Lions recently it lights up, but  _ no one  _ is looking for him. None of the patrons jump up to look for their soulmate and he knows that Coran and Keith can’t be the one. 

So  _ why  _ is the damn thing lighting up all over the place? 

He’s gotten in the habit of watching his hand suspiciously instead of actually studying by this point. It’s unhealthy. He knows it is. But either his soulmate is a ghost he can’t see or his soulmark is malfunctioning. 

Can a soulmark malfunction? 

He types up an email for his doctor asking this exact question and sends it before he can think better of it. The reply he gets is frustrating to say the least. 

_ Malfunctions are not possible with soulmarks. However, if you would like to schedule an appointment with one of our aura readers they may be able to help.  _

Lance scoffs and exits the email before even finishing. He may as well go visit his mom if that’s the case. He exits out of the browser and stares at the blank document that is his latest paper. He glances down at his hand then at where Coran wipes down the counter. 

When he gazes back at his hand the sand in the red hourglass is half gone and Lance’s heart lurches in his throat. 

“Hunk,” he gasps, holding his hand under Hunk’s nose. “Look. What the fuck do they think they’re doing?” 

Hunk looks at his palm and whistles a bit. “At least it isn’t cracking. That’s when they’re really in trouble.” 

“Oh god,” Lance whispers, grabbing his hair, “What if they die before I get to meet them? What if this entire hourglass is a cruel joke the universe is playing on me and I’m never meant to actually meet them, just watch their life run out?” 

Hunk rolls his eyes. “You’re being dramatic. They’re not going to die before you meet them. Look, the sand it barely half gone and it’s already reappearing.” 

Lance looks back at his palm and sure enough, Hunk is right. The sand is slowly piling back up to a healthy level for a roughly 20-year-old. But with that thought comes another. Lance gasps again and Hunk sighs, looking up from his reading yet again. “Hunk what if they’re  _ old _ ?” 

Hunk groans and rests his head in his hands. 

\-- 

It’s an honest mistake that has Keith on this side of town at all. Coran had sent him on a delivery for an elderly couple that couldn’t come into the shop because he had a bike that would be faster and more reliable than Coran expending the energy it would take to try to zap it to them. (Keith ended up saying he would go just to keep Coran from ever trying to teleport something and potentially ruin the integrity of whatever he’d spent painstaking hours brewing.) 

He really does not expect to get lost in a town he’s lived in for a couple years now. Let alone in the sketchy bit. 

“Hey, whatcha got there?” asks a voice from behind him. He whirls around and comes face to face with a rather short young man. Keith’s nose curls. Well this can only mean trouble. 

“Delivery,” he says short and cold. “Not for you.” 

“Your aura says it’s some kind of potion.” 

“As I said, not for you,” Keith growls, preparing to actually draw the pocketknife he’s kept on his person since he was 10. He backs away toward where he parked his bike. This is obviously the wrong address. Keith will head back to the shop and confer with Coran to find the actual one. 

The guy sighs, but it sounds off, snappy, almost more like a snarl. “Look, buddy, just give me the goods and you’re free to go. The boss doesn’t like competition.” 

“Not happening,” Keith says lowly. 

The guy shapeshifts into a larger creature before his eyes as he lunges. Keith dives to the side, reaching into his utility belt for his knife as he does. A claw snags his pants but Keith yanks them free and slashes with his knife all in one smooth move. He hears a snarl and twists just in time to miss being impaled by a huge claw. It instead scratches his cheek. 

Keith is… not amused by any of this. Shiro and Akira are going to question him  _ relentlessly  _ when he gets home. He can already hear their voices in his head. 

“I just wanted to deliver some fucking medicine,” he mutters, slashing out blindly at the ugly ass Eldritch creature this guy has morphed into. His head snaps back as a fist smacks him in the side of the face. 

“Fuck you,” Keith spits, trying vainly to figure out which way is up. His entire face is throbbing. 

“I’ll leave that pleasure for your soulmate,” comes the snarling voice of the shapeshifter as he grabs Keith by the ankle and yanks his feet from under him. “The Galra don’t like outside business, boy.” 

If Keith could roll his eyes any further back in his head he would. As it stands, he shifts his grip on his pocket knife and jabs upward as he descends on him, stabbing the creature in the shoulder deep enough that the guy lets out a shriek and scrambles away from him. 

Keith withdraws and tries to stand. His ankle nearly buckles under him and Keith swears. The shapeshifter seems to have recovered because he’s breathing heavily as he advances back toward him. Keith grunts and looks down the block where his bike is still parked. 

He needs an illusion. He needs one now, no matter how drained it might make him later. 

He mutters an incantation under his breath and throws a hand out in an “okay” sign down the street behind his advancing opponent. A split second later the sound of a siren rips through the quiet street, startling the shapeshifter. The siren is followed by a flashing red light on top of a car. 

“ _ Shit _ ,” his opponent hisses, looking toward Keith before he shifts back into a smaller form and darts down an alleyway. 

Keith stands there for a split second, holding the illusion of the police car with a clawed hand as he stumbles toward his bike and jams the key in the ignition. His clawed hand is shaking by the time he curls it into a fist to end the illusion and roars away. 

He’s a trembling mess by the time he gets back to the shop and he just stands there a moment, leaning on his bike, knees weak. 

How the hell did he get himself in this situation? 

He rubs the corners of his mouth and tries to ignore the way that he can’t really see out one eye. He limps toward the shop front and peers through the front window. Great not super busy, just some regulars, Coran,  _ and his fucking brothers, goddammit.  _

He takes a breath to prepare himself before striding into the shop. He tries to hide his limp, he really does, but in the end it just doesn’t work out. He stumbles into a table right near the door and has to brace both arms against it just to make sure he doesn’t fall flat on the floor. Keith draws in a harsh breath through his nose. 

It’s surprisingly Lance who notices him first and jumps to his feet. 

“Holy  _ shit _ , Keith!” he shouts as he runs to his side. Dubious feelings aside, Keith is grateful for the support. Shiro and Akira both whirl around as they hear his name. Akira’s features twist in concern immediately while Shiro just turns pale. 

“Are you okay?” Shiro demands at the same time Akira shouts, “Who the  _ fuck  _ is getting a beatdown?” 

Keith let’s out a pained breath and says, “Well I almost got killed by a Galra member so that’s a thing now, I guess.” He winces when he tries to set down his injured ankle before it just entirely gives out. Lance catches him and Hunk pulls a chair out for him, placing a hand on his shoulder in concern. Lance helps him lower down into the chair and Coran comes over with his normal tea order and a first aid kit. 

Keith takes a swig of it, ignoring the burn from the hot liquid entirely. He winces again as he stretches his leg out in front of him and pulls up his pant leg. 

“Jesus,” Hunk whispers. 

“Ah shit,” Keith mutters, “I didn’t think he actually got me there.” 

“What the hell were you doing fighting a gang member?” Shiro asks as he kneels down to inspect the gouges in his calf. 

“It’s not like I went  _ looking  _ for them, Shiro,” Keith snaps, and grimaces as his head throbs at the noise. “I went on delivery, got lost, and apparently he didn’t take kindly to the potions I was carrying for a customer.  _ He  _ attacked  _ me _ .” 

Keith looks at the people surrounding him. Hunk is shooting him sympathetic eyes. Akira looks as though he’s about to go out and take on the whole Galra gang himself. Coran rifles through the first aid kit for his healing salve and the biggest bandage he can find. Lance is looking at him in a way that Keith can’t quite identify as good or bad. 

None of them have said a thing. “Look, I know I got in a lot of fights in high school but--” 

“No you’re fine,” Akira says, waving him off before Shiro can speak. “We don’t blame you for this at all. Doesn’t change the fact that I’m gonna fight the fucking Galra for this. Teach them to touch my baby brother.” 

Keith sighs but at least Shiro seems to have lightened up a bit. 

“Are you in pain?” Lance asks softly. 

Keith shrugs. “As much pain as being clawed by a shapeshifter will do.” 

Lance’s expression hardens a little before he reaches out and touches his face. Keith feels like the room has frozen. Akira and Shiro both look surprised while Coran’s eyes shoot up in a glare at Lance. 

“Uh, buddy, are you sure that’s a good--?” Hunk starts to question before being cut off.

“It’s fine Hunk. I’m not going to do more than take the edge off.” 

“See to it that you don’t,” Coran says, voice edged in warning. 

Keith doesn’t quite understand what’s going on or why Lance touching his face seems to be so significant but when Lance draws back he  _ does  _ feel a bit better. His cheek no longer twinges at least and he can just barely see out of his swollen eye. 

“Dammit, Lance,” Hunk hisses a second before Lance stumbles back and falls into a chair of his own. “You said just the  _ edge _ , not the entire goddamn cut! You know how bad that is for you!” 

“Y’know buddy… sometimes these things are hard for me to control,” he says, breaths coming in heaves. 

Coran sighs and shakes his head, returning his concentration to Keith’s leg. “I’ll get an ice pack,” Hunk mutters, shooting a scolding look toward Lance on his way. 

Akira takes his chin in hand and turns his head toward him. Shiro watches over his shoulder with a small frown. He whistles lowly. “They really gave you a shiner.” Keith winces when Akira edges his thumb toward the eye. “Sorry.” 

“S’fine,” he mumbles. 

“Will you allow me to teleport packages to customers again?” Coran asks quietly. 

Keith stubbornly shakes his head. “No. You risk the integrity of the product when you do and you  _ know  _ it.” Coran sighs and Keith adds, “You can send this one though. It’s been more trouble than it’s worth and I’m a little bitter.” 

Coran chuckles and looks over at Lance again. “Thanks,” he says softly. Lance’s head shoots up from where he was gazing down at his glowing palm with a frown. 

“Oh. Uhh. No problem, dude,” Lance answers, rubbing the back of his neck. “Anytime.” 

“Certainly  _ not  _ ‘anytime’,” Coran says sharply. “You could have hurt yourself, lad.” 

“Aw c’mon Coran. You gotta let me at least help that much. That’s a big healing job, even for you.” 

“And I don’t intend to try and heal it all at once,” Coran corrects. 

“Is Lance being self-sacrificial again?” Hunk asks as he returns cradling an ice pack for Keith’s face. 

Shiro hums, though he’s giving Keith an odd, knowing look. Keith scowls at him. Keith knows from experience that when Shiro gets that look on his face, bad things happen to him. Keith looks at Akira and silently begs him to stop his twin. Akira answers with alarm before looking toward Shiro, who raises his eyebrows at Akira and shoots his eyes toward Lance, then to Keith. Akira’s face lights up and Keith would not be surprised if a cackle of glee fell from his lips. 

Keith groans aloud. “I hate this. I hate it when you two  _ do this _ .” 

“What?” Akira asks  _ because he’s a little shit.  _ “We aren’t doing anything.” 

“Fucking hell. Haven’t I gone through enough tonight,” Keith breathes, leaning his head back and placing the ice pack on his face. 

He can  _ feel  _ Lance and Hunk’s confusion radiating toward him but he doesn’t even have the energy to reply anymore. “Akira, drive me home. Please. Make Shiro take the bike.” 

“Hmmmm. No can do, bro. You know how Allura and Matt feel about Shiro riding that thing.” 

Keith curses and silently promises vengeance on his elder brothers. 

 

_ vii. Illusions and how to keep them _

“You’re staring again,” Pidge mutters, snapping Lance out of what must be his third trance since coming to the cafe. 

“No I’m not,” he retorts too quickly, eyes shooting back to his textbook. He catches a glimpse of his palm and frowns a little. Still a glowing red. Always glowing red when no one with glowing blue is present. 

Pidge raises an eyebrow at him. Lance sighs and flops on the table. “Talk,” Pidge demands. 

“Why so you can blackmail me?” Lance counters. 

“Perhaps. But I might also be able to help? Keith  _ is  _ my soulmate.” 

“What makes you think it has anything to do with him?” 

“I’ve caught you staring 4 different times in the last 45 minutes, Lance.” 

“I’m not staring! I’m spacing out while looking in that direction!” 

“Sure,” Pidge deadpans, turning their eyes to their laptop screen. 

Lance lets out a low whine and Pidge smirks in triumph. “I hate it when you’re right.” 

“I always am. Now spill. What’s up?” 

Lance sighs and casts one more glance toward where Keith is weaving the illusion of a galaxy over the shop, his voice a low murmur and his fingers making gestures Lance can’t possibly follow. His eye is still a little swollen and he leans against a crutch for support but that doesn’t stop him from focusing on his task. Lance hesitates then mumbles, “His hourglass for you is red right?” 

Pidge hums and Lance holds up his glowing palm for them to inspect. Pidge makes an interested noise in the back of their throat and pulls their left sleeve up to lay their hand down palm up next to his. The thumb joint of their palm glows the exact same shade as Lance’s. Pidge looks at Lance and then over to Keith. 

“You think he’s your soulmate,” Pidge states, no question in their voice. Their gaze is trapped on Keith now, eyes narrowed. 

Lance shrugs. “Either that or my mark is broken. Honestly think it could go either way. But I’ve never seen a glowing blue on his palm so it must be broken.” 

“It’s because of his stupid gloves,” Pidge mutters. 

Lance purses his lips but doesn’t say anything. 

“Honestly,” Pidge says, “he probably hasn’t seen any of his marks glow. He hates looking at them.” 

“Why?” 

Pidge shakes their head and murmurs, “That’s his story to tell.” 

“Alright,” Lance answers. “Not like I can just go up and ask him anyway.” 

“Why not?” Pidge asks and Lance straight up stares at them. They stare right back and gesture with their hands. “Why can’t you just go talk to him? Ask if he’s noticed his hands glowing around you?” 

“That’s weird.”

“Says who?” 

“Uh. Everyone?” 

Pidge scoffs and rolls their eyes. “Whatever, man. You could just talk to him in general. If he is your soulmate, like hell that’s going to make him automatically drop everything for you. He doesn’t go for the entire soulmate-means-destined-happiness shtick.” 

Lance feels something in his chest tighten at that. It’s hopeless then. He and Val must have read his marks wrong. He should have guessed that they were wrong as soon as he even  _ thought  _ it might be Keith. Because whatever bond there was between them could never be romantic. 

“Are you okay?” Pidge asks him and he realizes he’s zoned out while staring at Keith again. 

He shakes his head, nostrils flaring. “Fine,” he snaps. He turns his eyes back to his textbook but barely can make it through the paragraph before his eyes pull back toward Keith. Now he’s talking to Coran about other possible semi-permanent illusion spells they could cast on the shop to give it more atmosphere. 

Above the space between the table and the counter, Keith’s woven an entire universe of stars spinning and rotating. He’s turned the overhead lights into swirling galaxies and Lance’s breath catches in his throat as he sees Keith’s profile under the starlight. It’s like Keith’s first day at the shop when Lance couldn’t stop watching him move between the coffee and the potion he was brewing. Lance is simply entranced by him. 

Keith turns, still talking to Coran, and points around the shop. His eyes rove toward Lance and he falters as their eyes meet across the room. Coran says something to him and Lance jerks his eyes away again. 

He can’t get anything done. This is ridiculous. 

He sighs and stretches, shutting his book. “Well I’m gonna go get some dinner I think. Hunk’s cooking tonight.” 

Pidge hums skeptically. “Sure. See you. Don’t forget lunch next week. You probably won’t see me until then. I’ve got a huge secret coding project due and will not be seeing the light of day.” 

Lance feels a shiver run down his spine. Pidge and ‘secret’ should not be put together. Mostly because it probably means questionably legal. 

“Don’t get arrested,” Lance says as he slings his backpack over his shoulder and picks up his books. He waves toward the counter where Coran and Keith still stand. “See ya, Coran! Bye Keith.” 

Keith stares at him a moment before smiling and saying, “Bye, Lance.” 

If Lance’s stomach flips, he pretends it’s because he’s anticipating Hunk’s food. 

\-- 

Keith frowns at his phone and the string of unanswered messages in his thread to Pidge. He sits in the student union building waiting for his friends to arrive. Well, waiting for Pidge. Because really, he’s here for Pidge. 

“Hey Keith!” Hunk says with a wave as he approaches the table. 

“Hey. Where’s Lance?” 

Hunk rolls his eyes. “He had to bail because he forgot he has a paper due at 4.” He sets down a couple tupperware on the table. “I made us all food anyway. You heard from Pidge?” 

“Nope. Total radio silence.” 

“Mmm. Fair en--” Hunk freezes in place, eyes on the back of his hand. He frowns and looks around him, eyes narrowed. “Lance, you better not be playing a trick on me,” he calls around them, attracting weird looks from those around them. 

Keith squints at him. “Lance… is definitely not anywhere here.” He feels a rock settle low in his gut and tries to ignore how dry his mouth suddenly feels. 

Hunk’s frown deepens. “That’s weird.” He shows him the back of his hand where a glowing red and blue hourglass sits. “This is Lance’s hourglass.” 

Keith covers the back of his own right hand self-consciously. Hunk’s eyes are drawn to the movement. “Keith. Do you know something?” 

Keith swallows hard and licks his lips. He doesn’t make eye contact with Hunk but the boy can read him rather well for only knowing him a couple months. He sucks in a breath and Hunk whispers, “Keith… am I… am I your soulmate?” 

Keith just silently peels back his right glove and shows the glowing golden hourglass painted on his skin. He feels cold all over even as Hunk snatches his hand and pulls the glove off entirely to examine it. Keith doesn’t look at their hands or Hunk, choosing to keep his eyes fixed on an open tupperware on the table next to them. 

Hunk is quiet for a long time. Then he says, “This blue one is Lance isn’t it?” 

Keith nods. 

“How long have you known?” 

“A couple weeks maybe? A month? I…” He stops, frowning and pulling his glove back on so he can actually stand to look at his hands. He rubs them together to try and dispel some of the chill that seems to have entered him. 

“I’m not mad, Keith,” Hunk says softly and Keith finally looks at him again. “I’m not mad. You had your reasons. You don’t have to explain.” Keith lets out a breath and Hunk bites his lip. “You… You should tell Lance though.” 

“I… I can’t,” he says, voice slightly choked. 

“Why not?” Hunk asks gently. 

Keith takes a couple breathes before he answers evenly, “Because he’ll leave. Everyone always leaves.” 

“Have Shiro or Pidge ever left you?” 

Keith shakes his head and frowns. “But they will. They’ll die. And I’ll…” 

A look of understanding comes over Hunk’s face and he heaves a great sigh. “I see.” 

“Hunk,” Keith whispers, “I can’t… I never wanted to know when we’d die.” He feels his ragged breaths start to choke him and his eyes feel like they’ve both been punched swollen shut. 

Hunk makes a wounded noise and murmurs, “Keith it’s okay. Just  _ breathe _ .” And then Hunk is suddenly slipping into the booth next to him, pulling him in and pushing away all the cold that’s taken over his bones. 

Keith shudders and sinks into Hunk’s embrace. “It’s okay, Keith,” Hunk says, “I won’t tell Lance. You can tell him when you’re ready. And now that we know for sure, you don’t have to look at them. You’re my soulmate, Keith. And I want you to do with that what you will.” Keith pulls away, aware his eyes are completely dry, but feeling as though he just cried for an hour. “The bond means that we’re in each other’s lives. It doesn’t have to mean any more unless you want it to, okay?” 

Keith nods but says nothing because his voice is failing him. 

“Now I’m going to feed you. And don’t think I don’t know what you’re used to eating. This will actually lessen your chances of early death. I promise.” 

Keith smiles. “Thanks, Hunk.” 

 

_ viii. Bonding not included  _

“I invited Keith over for movie night tonight,” Hunk says, seeming to be entirely focused on his frying. Lance almost chokes on the gulp of water he’s just taken. 

“You  _ what _ ?” Lance coughs, pounding on his chest with a fist. 

“Invited Keith over tonight.” 

“Why?” 

“Do I need a reason?” 

Lance groans and covers his face with his hands. 

“Look Lance. We both know that you don’t hate him. And I think spending more time around him will be good for us. More time that isn’t just at his place of work or in class. So he’ll be coming over for movies later and you’re going to play nice.” 

Lance looks to where their clock reads 6:04 and frowns. “How much later is ‘later’?” There’s a knock on their door in the pause before Hunk can speak and Lance squawks, his eyes shooting down to his glowing red palm. “ _ Hunk! _ ” he hisses, “You did this on purpose! I’m not  _ ready _ !” 

“You look fine, Lance,” Hunk deadpans. 

“You still did this on purpose.” 

“Damn right I did. I couldn’t tell you too early or you’d work yourself into a panic over your appearance.” 

There’s another knock on the door and Hunk strides to answer it. 

_ “Hunk _ ,” Lance whisper-yells at him, “ _ Don’t you open that-- _ ” 

Hunk entirely ignores him,  _ the traitor _ , and pulls open the door with a welcoming grin. “Keith!” 

Keith stands in the doorway awkwardly, hands clasped in front of him and eyes shifting. “Hey Hunk.” He looks further into the apartment and says, even softer than his greeting to Hunk, “Hey Lance.” 

Lance immediately feels like the breath has been absolutely slammed out of his lungs. Sure, Keith is just wearing a normal loose t-shirt and some dubiously clean sweats but his hair is all tousled and his eyes are wide and  _ fuck, Lance is screwed.  _

Hunk gestures Keith into the apartment, who comes in hesitantly and drops his messenger bag near the door. “So… what’s on the agenda?” he asks, swinging his arms a little at his side. 

“First, food,” Hunk intervenes, steering Keith toward their kitchen where moments before he arrived, Hunk had just finished making breakfast for dinner for them. Hunk shoots Lance a look as he brushes past and Lance tries to smile reassuringly. It turns more into a grimace though. Lance takes a deep breath and strides into the kitchen to serve himself like a normal human being. 

“Holy  _ shit _ , Hunk,” Keith breathes, his plate piled with scrambled eggs and a literal mountain of pancakes. 

“Don’t propose to him on the spot, Mullet. He’s mine,” Lance says with a glare. Keith turns almost firetruck red and  _ oh that’s interesting _ . 

“Hey, I’m shareable,” Hunk mediates. “There’s a lot of me to love. Certainly enough for both of you.” 

“I-I didn’t realize,” Keith stutters, obviously backtracking hardcore. 

“Keith, chill. We’re not together like that. Queer-platonically sure, but no more,” Hunk clarifies quick and sure. When Keith still looks like he might spontaneously combust from the embarrassment, Hunk continues, “I’m ace, buddy. The most claim anyone has on me is a damn good friend.” 

Keith takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly but doesn’t say anything. He avoids Lance’s gaze and honestly, Lance feels a little pang at that. 

And then Hunk betrays him. “Besides, it’s not like Lance’s love life is really that interesting anyway. You should see all the embarrassing rejections in his diary.” 

_ “HUNK!”  _ Lance shrieks as Keith lets out a fucking  _ cackle _ . 

“I love you buddy, but there’s only so many times I can deal with your depressive episodes after a rejection from someone you asked out after meeting for  _ ten minutes _ before; I need an outlet.” 

Keith lets out another bark of laughter and Lance’s stomach flips again at the sound. Lance resolutely  _ ignores his gut  _ and piles his own plate full of delicious breakfast food. Hunk gives him a look with wiggly eyebrows and he just hisses, “ _ Don’t _ .” 

“So what are we gonna watch?” Keith asks around a rather large bite of pancake. 

Hunk shrugs. “Lance usually picks something meme-y.” 

“I do not!” Lance exclaims. “Hunk why are you slandering me so much tonight?” 

Hunk just shoots him a sly grin and winks.  _ ‘I hate you,’  _ Lance mouths with narrowed eyes. 

_ ‘Do not,’  _ Hunk mouths back. And goddammit Lance really can’t bring himself to actually hate Hunk. No matter how much he’s roasting him via commentary. 

“What do you want to watch, Keith?” Hunk asks, turning his gaze back toward the other boy. 

Keith looks up from his plate and looks between them. “Uhh. I brought V for Vendetta?” 

“I knew it,” Lance whispers while Hunk rolls his eyes. “You’re into conspiracy theories and alien movies too aren’t you?” 

Keith shrinks a little, his face screwing into a guilty grimace. 

“I  _ knew it _ !” Lance crows. 

“It’s okay, Keith. Lance refuses to accept that he likes them just as much as his other movies,” Hunk reassures. “Also I’d be down for that kind of movie. Down with the government and all that shit.” 

“Mood,” Lance says as he shoots fingerguns at Hunk. 

“Cool. I’ll go put it in in a sec.” 

Keith hums. 

Within 20 minutes they’re all seated on the couch with Hunk in the middle, arms spread across the back of the couch. 10 minutes into the movie, Hunk has been sucked in and Keith is leaning comfortably into his side. 

Lance glances down at his palm and the red sand within the hourglass tattooed on his skin. It’s almost shimmering and Lance touches the pads of two fingers to it. He turns his eyes to Keith, who seems to be about as interested in the movie as he is. His brow is furrowed and his eyes are glazed over as though he’s thinking about something. His thumb is digging into his right palm and Lance desperately wants to peel the glove off his hand and check the hourglass he knows must be underneath. 

He frowns and shakes his head a little. No. He knows that train of thought is useless. Even if he knew for sure that there was an hourglass there doesn’t mean anything. Pidge had been clear. Soulmates doesn’t mean a single thing when it comes to Keith’s relationships. 

He sees violet eyes turn his way but for some reason he doesn’t look away. Keith doesn’t look away from him and doesn’t seem bothered that Lance was staring at him. Lance catches Hunk smirking out the corner of his eye and Lance jerks his eyes back forward, noting that Keith’s do as well, his cheeks red. 

On screen Natalie Portman slowly falls in love with V and Lance falls a little bit faster. 

\-- 

The second time Keith sighs in Lance’s general direction, Pidge almost loses it. They make eye contact with Coran and give him a  _ look  _ before walking away from Keith moodily without a goodbye. Keith frowns. 

“Pidge, wha--” 

“I know the look you’re giving Lance,” Coran says, effectively derailing his entire thought process. 

“What look?” Keith deadpans. Coran grins. 

“You know exactly what look I’m talking about, lad. And I know Lance is your soulmate.” 

Keith’s breath catches in his throat. He freezes mid-brew of an americano for a tall guy with a braid leading down his shoulder and a severe look on his face. He quickly recovers and finishes the drink. If his hands are trembling, neither Coran nor the customer mention anything. He takes the cup from him silently and leaves the shop and Keith lets out a breath. 

Coran pulls him away from the counter closer to the cauldron set up near the door to the back room. He pulls up his left sleeve to bear the shattered, faded red hourglass on his wrist. “A word of advice, perhaps,” Coran murmurs, “from someone who has watched a soulmate die and another be born.” 

Keith doesn’t say anything, his body unnaturally still as he waits. He wonders if Coran, in addition to having an apparently boundless amount of magic and ability, hasn’t also found a way to intervene in his thoughts and still his mind. 

“You already know you have a limited time together. So why let the fear of losing him keep you from ever experiencing his love?” 

“He doesn’t--” 

Coran coughs in interruption and if he was wearing glasses he’d be looking at him over their top rims. Keith falls silent. His head is ringing with words spoken to him by the aura reader Shiro took him to a couple years ago.  _ “Blue could easily be the love of your life and Gold one of your greatest companions.”  _

Coran puts a hand on his shoulder and simply says, “Death will not wait, Keith. You shouldn’t either.” He smiles and squeezes his shoulder then turns back to the general shop. 

Keith stands there processing for a time before his gaze is drawn toward the sound of Lance laughing where he sits at his usual table next to Hunk. He catches Hunk’s eye and Hunk smiles reassuringly as though he can hear Keith’s thoughts. 

Keith swallows and pulls out is phone to text Hunk. 

_ ‘I’m gonna tell him.’  _

He doesn’t hesitate before pushing send. 

 

_ ix. When you wait _

When Hunk had sent him to the grocery store for milk when they still had a quarter of a gallon in the fridge, Lance had been suspicious. 

Granted it would probably work out in his favor because it probably meant that Hunk was cooking something special but that didn’t mean Lance’s suspicions were entirely unfounded. He picks up some baking chocolate as an extra little hint that he wants those amazing truffles Hunk makes. 

He gets a text as he’s passing through the chip aisle. 

_ ‘Keith’s having an Oreo crisis. Could you take him some?’  _

Okay, now Lance is extra suspicious but he shrugs off the sense of impending doom and texts an affirmative back to Hunk. It should be easy to swing by Keith’s on his way home. He snatches up a pack of Oreos and heads for the checkout. He hums to himself as he goes through the line. 

He’s on his way out the door when he finally questions why Keith would be in need of Oreos. What kind of Oreo crisis is he having?  _ Why  _ is he having an Oreo crisis? It’s not like Oreos are a staple food. 

He frowns as he walks in the direction of Keith’s apartment. He’s a couple minutes away when he hears a small whimper from an alleyway. He pauses, peering down the deserted space. “Ah shit,” he hears someone hiss. “Ow ow ow ow.” 

“Hello?” he calls, stepping cautiously into the alleyway. Several feet in sits a girl with twin blond braids nursing a shoulder. Her arm hangs limply at her side and Lance frowns as he approaches her side, dumping his bag on the ground beside them. “Are you hurt? What happened?” 

She winces and mutters, “Some guy attacked me. Dislocated my shoulder trying to fend him off.” 

Lance bites his lip. He could fix that. He could help. 

And of course, he always has to help. 

“Here. Sit up.” 

“Are you a doctor?” she asked skeptically. 

He shakes his head. “I’m a med student. I can fix this. Trust me.” She obliges in sitting up and lets him put his hands in place to jerk her shoulder back into place. “This might hurt a bit but I’ll put a bit of my magic in it so you don’t feel as much okay?” 

She nods and bites her lip, preparing. 

He draws in a breath and starts counting down from three, letting his magic automatically sense the injury in a way he doesn’t normally let it. He frowns in concentration then says, “Three!” and jerks her shoulder back into place. 

She hisses out a small pained noise but otherwise doesn’t react. “Oh thank fuck,” she breathes and then turns to him, eyes sad. “I’m really sorry.” 

“Wha--”

A weight slams into his side and pins him to the wall in an instant. Stars dance in front of his eyes as his head bounces all the wall. Hands press against his shoulders, digging his back into the brick behind him. Over him looms a man who’s apparently stronger than he looks. 

“Ohhh you caught someone with fancy healing powers this time, Nyma,” he says with a leering grin in her direction. 

The girl looks at him, eyes wide and apologetic. “I want my payment, Prorok.” 

Prorok snarls and digs into Lance’s pocket for his wallet and phone. He tosses them to her. “There’s your payment. Now get out of my sight.” 

Lance’s eyes dart between where Nyma is retreating and where Prorok has him completely pinned to the wall. “The Galra could have use for powers like yours,” Prorok says as though he’s discussing a business deal instead of threatening bodily harm. 

Lance narrows his eyes and scoffs. “As if I’d join the Galra. I’m in med school to help people not ruin their lives.” 

Prorok’s hand jerks to his throat and lifts and Lance chokes as his airway is cut off. “I wouldn’t be so insolent,  _ boy _ . The Galra own this city. We could easily just take your power but I’m offering you a choice.” 

Lance glares down at him and gathers just enough air to spit in his face. Prorok drops him and rears back. Lance gasps for air and takes the distraction for what it is, scrambling blindly toward the alley’s entrance. 

A shadow shoots out from the wall and digs into his gut before he can get out. A gasp of pain falls from his lips as he looks down at the shadow claws dug into stomach. They dissipate when he stumbles back, bringing a hand to press against his now wounded stomach. Prorok stands back and clicks his tongue. 

“You could have had such great power,” he spits. Lance tilts sideways into one of the walls and lets out another gasp as pain radiates outward from the five sharp stabbing points in his gut. Prorok doesn’t say goodbye. He’s just  _ gone _ . 

Lance slumps, breath coming in sharp wheezes. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck  _ fuck _ .  _ Fuck this is bad _ . 

He needs a plan. He squeezes his eyes shut and curls one hand into a fist. A low whine leaves his lips. 

_ Fuck  _ why can’t he think? 

What was he even doing before this shit show? 

_ Keith.  _ Keith. He was going to see Keith. He’s near Keith’s apartment. A block or two away at most. He can make it that far right? 

He forces himself to his feet and his knees nearly give out under him as pain shoots through him again. “ _ Shit _ ,” he hisses, pressing a hand more urgently to his stomach. It’s wet and sticky and Lance really doesn’t want to think about how much blood he’s losing but his head swims and he nearly careens into a wall as he stumbles out onto the street again. 

Keith will help him. Keith’s the closest to him right now. 

He has to make it to Keith. 

And that thought is the only thing that pushes him forward. 

\-- 

“But does the first one or the second one sound better?” Keith asks, yet again. He bites his lip as Shiro lets out a loud groan from where he’s working on a grad paper. 

“You know what. I can’t handle this. Akira, you deal with him. I’m going to Matt’s. Maybe there I’ll actually be able to concentrate.” Shiro starts pulling his things into a messenger bag and is out the door before Keith can ask him for a millionth time which of his corny Oreo pickup lines sounds better. 

“ _ Seriously _ , Akira. Which one?” Keith near-whines. Akira sighs and shakes his head. “This is important! He’s gonna be here any minute!” 

“Both of them sound fine and just the right level of corny, Keith.” 

“But I can’t use  _ both  _ of them! I feel like ‘I adore you’ is more straightforward but does the ‘you’re my heart’ one sound more romantic?” 

“Keith, you’re my brother and I’m happy you’re deciding to do this but Lance literally will like you no matter which line you use. It isn’t nearly as imperative as you seem to think it is.” 

Keith groans and Akira rolls his eyes. 

“You can be so dramatic. You and Lance are truly made for each other.” Akira turns away from him and strides toward his bedroom. Keith resists the urge to follow him. He seriously needs an opinion here! He doesn’t know how to do this! 

He sits on the couch and scowls at the floor. 

What if Lance doesn’t like either of the lines? What if they’re just  _ too corny  _ for him? 

No that’s ridiculous. Lance adores corny lines. He uses them on everyone. Hunk had specifically told him Oreos would be the way to go on this. 

It’ll be fine. He’s just overreacting. 

A knock on the door simultaneously jolts him out of his thoughts and sends his stomach flipping. He’s at the door in seconds, shaking hand pulling it open before he can doubt himself. 

“Hey La--” he stops as Lance tilts dangerously toward him. Keith’s eyes take in the blood dribbling down his chin from his mouth and the dark  _ dark  _ stain on the front of his shirt. Keith’s greeting dies before he can get it out. “Wha--  _ Lance _ !” He catches him under the arms and turns him, his knees hitting the ground. 

“Keith,” Lance chokes, his fingers are vice-like on his shirt. Keith can feel all the blood draining from his face as he looks at him. He scrambles to get his right glove off and looks down at his palm where the blue hourglass shimmers as it starts to crack. 

“Akira… AKIRA!  _ AKIRA, HELP! _ ” Keith’s screaming before he’s even fully processed what the cracking in the hourglass  _ means _ . 

“Holy  _ shit _ ,” comes Akira’s voice behind him. Keith hears a jangle of keys and then Akira’s stepping around where he and Lance are piled in the doorway to kneel in front of them. “ _ Fuck  _ okay. I’m gonna need you to cast an illusion spell on the car to make it look like an ambulance.” Keith nods, looking up at his brother. He can feel the panic building in his chest, waiting to explode, but he swallows it back. 

Akira lets out another string of swears and hops back over them to snatch up the first aid kit from their kitchen cupboard. 

Lance whimpers as Keith and Akira help boost him to his feet. Keith’s heart throbs at the sound. “You’re okay,” Keith murmurs endlessly as they haul him to the parked car, “You’re gonna be okay, Lance. It’s okay.” 

Lance lets out a cross between a cough and a chuckle, his head lolling onto Keith’s shoulder. They get settled into the backseat of Akira’s car. Akira tosses the first aid kit into the back seat with them and starts the car. 

“Keith,” Akira barks as he pulls the car out of it’s parking spot, “Ambulance. Now.” 

Keith’s hands shake as they make the needed gestures and he falters on the incantation twice before it comes out right. He holds one hand clawed against Lance’s shoulder while the other digs into the first aid kit for as much fucking gauze as he can find. He presses all of it to Lance’s stomach, trying to ignore the way he whines in pain. The bandages are soaked through faster than Keith wants to think about. 

He starts muttering blind reassurances again. Lance’s head has shifted down to his lap and he’s sprawled across the rest of the seat. His hand reaches up and touches Keith’s face. Keith’s voice and breath abruptly catch. 

“Cryin’,” Lance breathes. 

A sob shudders through Keith’s shoulders and out through his mouth. He looks at his palm, fingers clawed around it and leans down further. “You’re okay,” he whispers. “You’re going to be okay.” 

The hourglass on his hand cracks further as he speaks, it’s color beginning to fade. Keith shakes his head and forgets about the illusion he’s holding. He squeezes his fist and Akira shoots a look at him through the rearview mirror as they jerk to a stop. 

Akira runs around the side of the car and through the ER doors. 

“Keith,” Lance says, voice rough and choked. Keith shakes his head and shushes him. “Oreos. I’m sorry.” 

Keith’s breath catches in his throat. “You idiot, it was never about the Oreos.”

Akira yanks open the door and with the help of a couple nurses gets Lance out of the car and onto a stretcher. 

By the time Akira returns for him, Keith’s staring down at his shattering hourglass, full-on sobbing. 

Akira just pulls him in close and lets him scream. 

 

_ x. Possibilities _

Keith feels like he’s in one of those cliche medical dramas, sitting in the waiting room of the ER with his soulmate’s dried blood covering his hands and clothes, staring at a half shattered blue hourglass for the moment the last grain of sand drops. 

Hunk drops into the seat next to him and presses his forehead into his shoulder. 

“I never looked at them,” Keith whispers. “I could have stopped this if I’d ever looked at them. I would have known something was wrong.” 

Hunk’s arms wrap around him and squeeze. “You did what you could, Keith. You got him to the hospital.” 

Keith’s hands shake at he stares at his palm. “That’s not enough.” 

“Of course it is,” Hunk murmurs. He looks down at the back of his hand where half a cracked hourglass sits. “You know, I always thought it was weird that Lance’s hourglass was two colors. He used to joke that it was because he had such a colorful personality but I think I always knew it was because he’d meet someone who matched him perfectly, his Red. And then I’d be stuck with both of them.” 

Keith lets out a choked laugh. Hunk lifts his head and they meet eyes. “You are. You’re stuck with us. But then, where would Lance or I even be without you?” Hunk’s quiet, eyes sad, and Keith realizes that they’re both waiting for Lance to chime in. “God… I fucked up.” 

“Everyone fucks up. It’s just what people do.” 

Keith has nothing to say to that but the frustration is nearly killing him. 

“Keith, look,” Hunk breathes. And when Keith looks at him, his eyes are on their hourglasses. More specifically, how the cracks are slowly disappearing. They sit there for the next hour in complete silence, eyes rapt on their mending hourglasses. 

This is the second time Keith’s watch this process occur but the relief that floods him feels the same as it did with Shiro. The last crack dissipates and Keith covers his mouth, looking to Hunk. 

“I think he’s gonna be okay,” Hunk says softly, squeezing him even tighter to his side. Keith nods and buries his face in Hunk’s shoulder. 

“I can’t tell if this is a relieved hug or a mourning hug,” Akira says when he and Shiro come bearing coffee. Keith’s shoulders shake and he lifts his hand in their direction. 

“That’s great,” Shiro says softly. 

“He’s gonna be okay,” Hunk says. Keith nods and takes the offered coffee from Shiro. 

“Lance McClain? Someone here for Lance McClain?” a nurse calls. 

Hunk pats Keith on the back and says, “You go. Talk out your stuff. I’m gonna call his mom and tell her she can stop worrying about him now.” 

“Okay. Thanks, Hunk.” 

“No problem, man. It’s what soulmates are for.” 

Keith gets up and walks toward the nurse. She looks at him and asks, “Are you Lance McClain’s family?” 

“No. I’m… I’m his soulmate.” 

The nurse shrugs and motions for him to follow. “Your boy will be alright. Went through some rough patches for a while but I bet you already knew that. He should probably be awake soon but it may be hard for him to talk.” 

“Thank you,” he breathes as she opens a door, revealing Lance laid back on a hospital bed, oxygen tubes up his nose and a monitor beeping steadily. He comes up to the side of the bed and takes a seat. His hand slips into Lance’s and his eyes run over his face. There are bruises on his neck and Keith’s hand tightens as he catches sight of them. 

“Hnng,” Lance moans. His head rolls and then his eyes crack open. He winces and squints at him. “Fuck,” he rasps. “Not good feeling.” 

Keith moves so he can block some of the light coming in overhead and Lance’s eyes slowly readjust. “Shit Keith,” Lance mumbles, “You an angel? You have a halo.” Keith’s laugh is half sob and Lance notices right away. “You okay?” 

Keith feels pressure behind his eyes and has to look away to wipe at them before he answers, “You almost died. I’m fine.” Lance doesn’t reply and Keith glances down at his blue hourglass, which of course draws Lance’s attention. He sucks in a breath and holds it as Keith settles his palm against Lance’s chest. “I’m your soulmate,” Keith says softly. “I’m your soulmate.” 

“I know,” Lance murmurs, though his brows furrow. “I thought you didn’t want…” 

“I do,” Keith says quickly. “I do. It was never you, Lance. It was… Well… It doesn’t matter now.” 

“I hope you’ll tell me someday,” Lance says, shifting his hand to weave their fingers together. Keith nods and leans closer to him. “I’m sorry about your Oreos.” 

Keith manages a smile and admits quietly, “I don’t even like Oreos, Lance. I was going to use it as an excuse to make corny pickup lines when you got to the apartment.” 

Lance’s eyes widen. “You  _ what _ . Wait like  _ what _ ? What line, Keith?” 

Keith’s grin grows and he uses his free hand to cover his face as it starts burning. “Are you Oreo cream? Because you’re my heart.” 

“Holy fucking  _ shit _ ,” Lance whispers, voice coming out hoarse, “How are you  _ so cute _ ?” 

“The other one was ‘Because I adore you,’” Keith adds. “Because I do only really like the cream.”

“Do you?” 

“What?” 

“Adore me?” Keith’s heart picks up in his chest and he stares at Lance. “Because I definitely adore you.” 

Keith’s face is on fire but he’s grinning wider than he thinks he ever has before. He nods and bites his lip as Lance coos at him. “In fact… I could love you.” 

“Just kiss me already, Keith.” 

Keith obliges, pressing his lips to Lance’s, heedless of the oxygen tubes pushing against his nose. 

“Date me,” Keith breathes as he pulls back, keeping their foreheads close. Lance hums and kisses him again. 

“That’s gay,” says a voice from the door. 

Keith sits back and looks toward where Pidge stands, smirking, with his brothers and Hunk in the doorway. “That’s the point,” Keith tells them. “I’m gay. Specifically for Lance.” 

“Awww you finally sorted out your gay feelings,” Akira coos. He looks at Shiro. “Look Takashi, our baby brother’s growing up.” 

“Don’t make me give you the shovel talk, Lance,” Shiro says. 

“Also what the fuck was that with almost dying, man?” Hunk questions.

“You really should refrain from doing that,” Pidge adds. 

Keith sits back and looks at all four of his soulmates. He gazes down at his hand and doesn’t feel crushing anxiety for once. Lance squeezes his hand and Keith looks at him. 

Lance just smiles. 

\-- 

_ Two and a half years later…  _

“Happy birthday, Lance,” Keith calls as he enters their apartment, holding a boxed cake in one arm and a ring box in his pocket. He sets the cake on the kitchen table and walks over to where Lance is working on some kind of assignment in the living room. 

Lance smiles when he sees him coming and takes his earbuds out. “Hey!” 

“Happy birthday,” Keith repeats as he leans down to kiss him. He peers at Lance’s computer screen and the papers surrounding him. “Is this all for Iverson?” 

Lance groans. “ _ Yes _ . His summer course is a nightmare. Count yourself lucky that you don’t need the extra credits, Keith.” 

“You wouldn’t need them either if you weren’t messing around instead of doing your coursework last semester.” 

“Excuse. My sister got married. Was I supposed to ignore that?” 

Keith smiles and perches on the arm of the couch. “Hunk said he’d be home with dinner in a bit.” 

“What did I do to deserve either of you?” Lance asks softly as he kisses him again. 

“Hmmm. I dunno. You don’t seem like you’d have very good karma.” 

Lance gasps. “How dare you! I am a  _ saint _ !” 

Keith flattens his hand and jiggles it in front of him a bit. “You’re really not. But that’s okay. Love you anyway.” 

“Aww.” 

The sound of the front door opening makes Lance push his computer away and yell, “Hunk! Did you know Keith loves me?”

“I wouldn’t have guessed,” Hunk deadpans as he enters the room. He leaves a couple bags of groceries on the table and glares at the cake Keith had left there. “What’s that?” 

“Cake,” Keith affirms. 

“Store bought cake? In my house?” 

“Uhh… Yes?” 

Hunk breathes in deeply through his nose and Keith gets the distinct impression that he’s about to get massively told off. Hunk holds his hands together in front of him. And huffs out a breath. 

“Keith. I’m giving you five seconds to get rid of that abomination before I slam your face into it.” 

Keith looks at Lance with an ‘is he serious?’ look that Lance just nods gravely at him over. “Hunk, I’m not going to toss perfectly--” 

“ONE.” 

“This is ridiculou--” 

“TWO.” 

“It’s a perfectly good cake!” 

“THREE.” 

“What are you even going to--”

“FOUR.” 

“You’re not actually going to--” 

“FIVE! YOU ASKED FOR THIS, KEITH.” Hunk charges him and Keith squawks to get around the other side of the table before he reaches him. “Your face is going in the cake, Keith!” 

They chase each other around the table for a bit while Lance laughs hysterically from the couch. “Lance! Help!” Keith yells as he jumps out of Hunk’s way again. 

“Babe you got yourself into this! You know not to bring in stuff that isn’t Hunk-approved!” Lance calls back with a cackle. 

By the time Hunk finally gives up, Keith’s out of breath and standing with his hands on his knees. Hunk collapses next to Lance on the couch. “I’ll pawn the cake off on Akira and Meri,” Keith gasps. “We can bake our own.” 

“I guess,” Hunk sighs, pouting. 

“Or, consider this,” Lance says, “Two cakes. One from each of my true loves.” 

“Well only one of us is going to propose to you so who’s the real true love, Lance,” Hunk mutters and Keith recognizes a hint when Hunk drops it by this point. 

“Pfff. Right.” Keith legitimately sees the loading look on his face seconds before Lance double-takes. “Wait  _ what _ .” 

Keith bites his lip and pulls the box in his pocket out, wordlessly handing it to him. Then he pulls out a single oreo cookie and says, “Lance, you want to be the cream to my cookie?” 

Lance stares at him then points at his best friend. “Only if you accept Hunk as well.” 

“Who do you think is the other cookie?” 

Lance’s face draws into a teary grin. 

“Holy shit, just marry me already.” 

**Author's Note:**

> scene 2 section ii: Shiro and Akira are in a car accident. Keith notices his hourglass start to shatter during class and starts to panic. Shiro's arm is amputated and he loses all his soulmarks except Akira's.  
> scene 2 section vi: Keith has a run in with a shapeshifting Galra gang member while on a delivery. Keith gets pretty hurt.  
> section ix: Lance is lured into an alleyway to help relocate someone's shoulder, reveals his magical ability, and is attacked by Prorok, who first tries to convince him to join the Galra. He's stabbed as he tries to escape. He shows up at Keith's heavily wounded and unable to speak. Akira and Keith rush him to the hospital. 
> 
> This was written primarily because of (and for) the Voltron:Duality discord server. They came up with the concept of the hourglass soulmarks and then I added the magic element. I know of a couple others from the server that are going to post their own takes on an Hourglass AU which I'm really looking forward to. 
> 
> Akira and Val are squirenonny's characters from their Voltron:Duality series which I highly recommend to anyone and everyone. 
> 
> Finally, I will eventually be writing the Shalluratt prequel for this verse (because I can never get enough polyships or Shalluratt) so look out for that. 
> 
> Come yell at me in the comments or on tumblr: @emfreddie


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